Arrested on the Amtrak to L.A.

Aggravated armless man instigates tussle

San Diego police arrested a man with no arms on Wednesday, September 4, at the Santa Fe Depot on Kettner Boulevard after he allegedly began threatening passengers and then became violent with a female employee on an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train en route to Los Angeles.

The man, according to an SDPD report, boarded Amtrak train 591 shortly after 6 p.m. and began telling passengers, “You’re all going to die.” Witnesses say that as he moved about the train he was directing obscenities at passengers, including some children.

A female Amtrak conductor followed the passenger to the front of the train. When he reached an area that had signage indicating “employees only,” she told him he couldn’t go any further. He reportedly attempted to kick the sign down and tried to enter the area where the train engineer sits.

After a brief altercation, the conductor grabbed the suspect by the shirt and a passenger stepped in and helped her put the man on the ground. Shortly thereafter, several Amtrak employees arrived and helped carry the suspect downstairs to the platform, where they used a plastic zip-tie to secure his feet until San Diego police arrived.

According to San Diego police detective Gary Hassen, the suspect was booked into the San Diego County Jail. Hassen did not say what the suspect would be charged with.

Comments

If I'm to understand the situation as reported, he got on the train and almost immediately engaged with this bizarre behavior. And the train was not underway at the time. That's better than having a whacko on a moving train through Camp Pendleton where the station stops are twenty minutes or more apart, and the cops might not be waiting at the next station stop.

But I'd suppose that he'll sue Amtrak and its employees for false arrest, brutality, assault, and who-knows-what for physically restraining him. Final point: did he have a paid ticket? In Amtrak parlance, that would have made him a "guest."